9.1 Submit your answers to theQueen’s Garden Worksheet Revised. 1. Describe the stasis in the play: where, when, who, what, etc. in a paragraph. The story starts out in 1966, but skips around in age. Brenda, in the beginning, is a 13 year old with acne, eczema, and asthma. She and her family and friends live on Long Beach in a place they call, “WestsIde” because “Westside is the bestside”. Brenda is the eldest of the children, her parents and siblings all work at the family business and very similar looking clothes. Her Auntie Mary, who’s known as the Queen of West Side, takes care of her as she accidentally sleeps in and has an asthma attack. She also is the one who introduces her to one of the major characters: Kali, who is Auntie Mary’s son.
2. What is the intrusion? Brenda’s biggest moment that sets the play forward in motion was her revealed wish to leave her home and go to college at some point. At the same time she is informing Kali that she doesn’t plan to marry Kali. Setting her goal gives the story a question and allows for Brenda to fast forward to further ahead.
3. What is the unique factor? This is the day that that Brenda Wong Aoki tells her story of the struggles in growing up. Through short segments of stories, Brenda is able to reveal her hopes, dreams, steps forward, and downfalls. She faces relationships, family ties,
4. What is the dramatic question that should be answered by the end of the play? Why does Brenda share certain stories and not others? How have they affected how she’s gotten to where she is now? What will happen to Brenda and everyone else now?
5. Provide an illustration of the two kinds of exposition that the play has in it.
Information Known To All: Brenda’s preface/prologue, relationships between characters, the tenseness between characters (people know they exist, but they may not know exactly why (for example: Smoke and Kali))
Information Known Only To One Character: Both Kai and Hai use this type of exposition in their characters since they must reveal things that have happened to them, and usually only reveal it to one or two characters they trust. For example, Hai also uses this by explaining her and the blue cup’s backstory. It had been many years that Brenda and Hai had known one another, but she decides to share it then.
6. Identify the most theatrical moment in the play and of what importance it seems to be. This play may be one of the hardest to identify a “most” theatrical part. In my opinion, the biggest moment was “Shoot-Out”. The play climaxes and seconds later comes to an end. Several characters were shot dead and the play’s title “Queen’s Garden” is once again referenced in a darker, but more meaningful, light.
7. List some of the themes of the play.
Coming of age: Brenda even uses her past and learns from it. For example, when she uses the tactic her teacher had with pairing her up with Hai to help a kid in her class mace a friend
Language: In this play, how one speaks can sometimes be used against them. For example, Kali is told to say “water” a certain way. This characterizes them by the differences in how they speak. It can also expose a person to different cultures.
Gang culture/violence
Family and community
8. What does the narrator want and what are some obstacles that stand in the way of her getting what she wants? Although Brenda's goals do change over the course of the play, her main goal in mind is to attend college. She wants to escape Westside, but Kali/family, and the heritage and culture that comes with her community there, make it harder to stay away for long. She struggles with both herself and these forces of her community that tie her to Westside.
9. Describe some possible images in the play and how does the title help us understand the play.
Red Roses: to start, the play is named “Queen’s Garden”, which should give For majority the play, Auntie Mary However, in the final scene, the roses symbolize blood. On the other hand, the narrator does end the story with, “I still love roses. They remind me of Auntie Mary” and that, “..every year some roses still bloom.”
Hai’s Blue Cups: The backstory, although sad, reveals a lot about Hai while also giving the cups more meaning. Her cups show other cultures that Brenda has yet to hear and learn about. Having them be the last of Hai's family, she gifts them to her new family by giving them to Brenda when they depart. When Kali breaks them, it may be showing how Kali is less aware of other cultures and their values.
10. Briefly define the family relationships that are examined in the play. “Ohana” means family, even expending to those who are not blood related. It emphasizes that people and families are bonded together. Community is very interesting in this play. The different groups have different experiences and viewpoints, and are seen to clash as they interact. Majority of the community is in no way blood related to Brenda, yet they act as if they are. Auntie Mary is the one who introduces her to Kali: the boy she falls in love with and Hai too becomes Brenda’s sort of family. However, this story wants to press that we are, essentially, made up of multiple backgrounds, cultures, and communities. The idea of being so different is something they all share. This family is as, if not more, influential than her blood related family.
1. Describe the stasis in the play: where, when, who, what, etc. in a paragraph.
The story starts out in 1966, but skips around in age. Brenda, in the beginning, is a 13 year old with acne, eczema, and asthma. She and her family and friends live on Long Beach in a place they call, “WestsIde” because “Westside is the bestside”. Brenda is the eldest of the children, her parents and siblings all work at the family business and very similar looking clothes. Her Auntie Mary, who’s known as the Queen of West Side, takes care of her as she accidentally sleeps in and has an asthma attack. She also is the one who introduces her to one of the major characters: Kali, who is Auntie Mary’s son.
2. What is the intrusion?
Brenda’s biggest moment that sets the play forward in motion was her revealed wish to leave her home and go to college at some point. At the same time she is informing Kali that she doesn’t plan to marry Kali. Setting her goal gives the story a question and allows for Brenda to fast forward to further ahead.
3. What is the unique factor?
This is the day that that Brenda Wong Aoki tells her story of the struggles in growing up. Through short segments of stories, Brenda is able to reveal her hopes, dreams, steps forward, and downfalls. She faces relationships, family ties,
4. What is the dramatic question that should be answered by the end of the play?
Why does Brenda share certain stories and not others? How have they affected how she’s gotten to where she is now?
What will happen to Brenda and everyone else now?
5. Provide an illustration of the two kinds of exposition that the play has in it.
6. Identify the most theatrical moment in the play and of what importance it seems to be.
This play may be one of the hardest to identify a “most” theatrical part. In my opinion, the biggest moment was “Shoot-Out”. The play climaxes and seconds later comes to an end. Several characters were shot dead and the play’s title “Queen’s Garden” is once again referenced in a darker, but more meaningful, light.
7. List some of the themes of the play.
8. What does the narrator want and what are some obstacles that stand in the way of her getting what she wants?
Although Brenda's goals do change over the course of the play, her main goal in mind is to attend college. She wants to escape Westside, but Kali/family, and the heritage and culture that comes with her community there, make it harder to stay away for long. She struggles with both herself and these forces of her community that tie her to Westside.
9. Describe some possible images in the play and how does the title help us understand the play.
10. Briefly define the family relationships that are examined in the play.
“Ohana” means family, even expending to those who are not blood related. It emphasizes that people and families are bonded together. Community is very interesting in this play. The different groups have different experiences and viewpoints, and are seen to clash as they interact. Majority of the community is in no way blood related to Brenda, yet they act as if they are. Auntie Mary is the one who introduces her to Kali: the boy she falls in love with and Hai too becomes Brenda’s sort of family. However, this story wants to press that we are, essentially, made up of multiple backgrounds, cultures, and communities. The idea of being so different is something they all share. This family is as, if not more, influential than her blood related family.